President Lazarus Chakwera has warned the Ministry of Energy that he will not tolerate power shortages in the country, saying electricity is crucial to creation of jobs and wealth as well as to the vision of turning Malawi into a middle-income country.
Chakwera made the remarks this morning when he commissioned the Tedzani IV Power Station at Nkula in Blantyre.
The Malawi leader said the commissioning of the power station, which will add 19.1 megawatts (MW) to the national grid, means his administration has 981 megawatts to go to reach 1000 megawatts target.
“I expect that the Ministry of Energy will not let allow us to lose this momentum or miss our targets.
“Our country has suffered power shortages for far too long and should not be expected to wait any longer. Allowing Malawi to continue living in the dark ages is not a mindset that I will allow in my administration,” said Chakwera.
He warned that Malawi’s vision to create jobs, food security and wealth will be at risk and the dream to become a middle income by 2030 will not be achieved if Malawi fails to get things in the country’s power supply service.
The president said a nation with serious development goals cannot allow manufacturing companies to be using diesel generators.
Chakwera then thanked the Japanese government for assist Malawi in constructing the power station.
Japan assisted Malawi with about K40 billion for the construction of the power plant while Malawi government chipped in with K6 billion.
Speaking earlier, Japanese Ambassador to Malawi Satoshi Iwakiri noted that 19.1MW is 3.6 percent of the electricity demand in Malawi.
He added that a total of 120,000 local staff were involved in the project since construction bean in 2018.
Minister of Energy Newton Kambala said the power plant will boost Malawi’s power supply and before the end of the year new power plants adding 80 megawatts to the grid will be commissioned.
The Electricity Generation Company operates the power station and the power is distributed to consumers by ESCOM.
At Tedzani, EGENCO produces a total of 121.1MW. It also produces 135.1MW at Nkula, 129.6MW at Kapichira and 4.35MW at Wovwe adding up to 390.15MW.
